November 15, 2017

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

November 15, 2017 – December 5, 2017 — 1

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Environmental injustice: Air, noise pollution threatens health of Beacon Hill

By Chetanya Robinson IE Managing Editor Two invisible forces threaten the health of people living in Beacon Hill: Toxic pollutants in the air and loud noises. One of the largest neighborhoods in Seattle, Beacon Hill is framed by two interstate highways and two busy arterials. It’s also near three airports, the Port of Seattle, and a light rail station. Cars, trucks, airplanes, and ships spew toxic pollutants into the air, and carry disturbing noise into the neighborhood.

The health risks caused by pollution and the discordant soundscape in Beacon Hill are an environmental justice issue. In October 2016, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded a $120,000 environmental justice grant to the Latino social services and culture nonprofit El Centro de la Raza in Beacon Hill. The grant is being used to educate neighborhood residents who may not know about the air and noise pollution issues, help them come up with solutions of their own, and turn some of those solutions into reality.

Environmental justice is the idea that environmental risks should be distributed equally in society regardless of race, ethnicity, income, or other categories, and that decision-making power should be given to communities that have historically been disadvantaged and marginalized by environmental policies.

Recent high-profile stories framed as environmental justice issues include the handling of water crisis in mostly Black and poor Flint, Michigan; the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s battle last year to stop an oil pipeline from impacting their water; the hurricane in Puerto Rico that affected more than three million Puerto Ricans, leaving the majority of the island without water and electricity.

In Seattle, as in other cities, the impacts of pollution are most strongly-felt in low-income, non-white neighborhoods, especially those in the south end. Beacon Hill is one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in Seattle: According to the 2010 U.S. Census, it’s 50 percent Asian Pacific Islander, 22 percent Black, and 8 percent Latino, with 44 percent of residents foreign-born.

The EPA environmental justice grant is part of a larger effort that was spearheaded by two longtime Beacon Hill residents: Dr.

Beacon Hill’s Dr. José Rizal Park, with a view of downtown Seattle • Photo by Chetanya Robinson

Roseanne Lorenzana of the UW School of Public Health, and Maria Batayola, who has a long career working in social justice and equity in Seattle.

Lorenzana has since left the project to work on other Beacon Hill environmental justice projects related to the health effects of air pollution and noise pollution. She specializes in environmental toxicology and public health and has over 25 years of experience working in federal and state environmental agencies. Lorenzana assembled scientific research and documentation for the project, and put together a technical panel to support the project with members from UW, King County Health and Puget Sound Clean Air Agency Batayola engaged the Beacon Hill community, including hiring outreach and recruitment coordinators for five languages commonly spoken in Beacon Hill. The engagement reached 467 people in 24 meetings.

Batayola and others are now drafting a Beacon Hill Air & Noise Pollution Health Impacts Community Action Plan, to be released on December 2.

This summer, the Washington State Legislature funded a study on the health effects of ultrafine particles emitted by aircraft near SeaTac Airport. Only two studies of its kind have been conducted, one in Norway

and one at the Los Angeles International Airport.

Beacon Hill is one of several communities impacted by air pollution from SeaTac and from other vehicles, as well as noise pollution.

Both air and noise pollution are associated with health risks. Long-term exposure to certain air pollutants is associated with heart disease and childhood asthma, according to Tim Larson, a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the UW. Larson was a technical adviser for Batayola and Lorenzana’s project.

For hospital discharge records in Seattle, the zip code that includes Beacon Hill, Georgetown, and South Park shows “a much higher occurrence and frequency of childhood asthma than the rest of the city,” Larson said. “This could be due to a number of factors, one of which might be air pollution,” he wrote in an email.

Children are particularly at risk from air pollution because their lungs are still developing, and they breathe in more polluted air in proportion to their body weight, Lorenzana said. Other people who face a greater risk include the elderly, people with asthma, diabetes, elevated cholesterol, and those who get less regular physical activity. And Beacon Hill happens to be one of the neighborhoods with the lowest levels of physical activity, according to Lorenzana.

This month, UW researchers released the results of a national study showing that toxic air contributes to poor mental health.

A greater amount of fine particulate matter in the air is associated with greater psychological distress.

Then there’s noise pollution—unwanted noise that can disturb people and harm their health—brought to Beacon Hill from motor vehicles along I-5 and I-90, the Link Light Rail, various vehicles in the Port and Industrial Area, and, most importantly, planes touching down and taking off at three nearby airports: Boeing Field, Renton Airport, and SeaTac Airport.

“There can be one plane almost ‘nose to tail’ with the next plane,” Lorenzana said.

“So the experience on the ground is just relentless. People feel like the planes are right on top of their heads.”

Noise from aircraft isn’t just annoying: it can be a health hazard. For children, it’s associated with sleep disturbance, stress, tinnitus, cognitive impairment, hyperactivity and decreased reading and math scores.

For adults, aircraft noise that disturb sleep can lead to high blood pressure. And even if someone is unaware of the noise or thinks they’ve gotten used to it—and even if it doesn’t wake them up—they can still be impacted. “Their cardiovascular system is still reacting,” said Lorenzana.

Other communities around the country have grown concerned about noise pollution from airplanes. Locally, residents of the Capitol Hill neighborhood and Bellevue and others in south Seattle have fought to reduce airplane noise over their heads. But unlike Beacon Hill, most of the communities tackling the problem around the country are relatively affluent, according to Lorenzana. To her knowledge, Beacon Hill is the only community in the country looking at the problem through an environmental justice lens.

In 2012, the The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved the “Greener Skies Over Seattle” program, which had aircraft land at SeaTac along a smaller flight path, in order to save fuel. While it cut down on noise impacts on many communities in the Seattle area, Beacon Hill residents fear POLLUTION: Continued on page 6 . . .

2 — November 15, 2017 – December 5, 2017

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

OPINION

Social Justice Film Festival will highlight stories of Japanese incarceration, immigration and poverty in Asia

By Aurora Martin IE Contributor “I remember we started to gather anything that was ‘Japanese-y’—like magazines, records, pictures, anything, and we started to burn them.” This is the vivid childhood memory of a survivor of Japanese incarceration, interviewed in the documentary And Then They Came for Us. The documentary film is featured as part of the 2017 Social Justice Film Festival from November 16 to 21, with films highlighting immigrant stories, indigenous voices, Black Lives Matter, human rights, criminal justice reform, and environmental justice. These movements may seem separate, but they come together under the umbrella of the #Resistance. The issues are interrelated and there is something for everyone. If there is anything the #Resistance should stand for, it is to resist the erosion of values that exemplify all that is good about humanity—and resist the hyperbole of cultural wars.

In the film, images of racist signs, family photos of the time not forgotten, bring you back to the stories of thousands of people stripped of their identity during a time of war and heightened fear over “national defense.” Grandmothers, fathers, young people, businessmen, and field workers are given just days’ notice before being removed from their homes, relocated to camps, and branded as suspected enemies of the state.

Star Trek actor George Takei, who spent time in one of these concentration camps as a child, spoke of the xenophobia then and how it serves as a warning for today: “This nation was swept up by war hysteria, racism and the failure of political leadership.”

Fast forward to a scene of then-candidate Donald Trump’s promise to ban Muslim immigration and track Muslim Americans.

Despite its heavy subject matter, And Then They Came for Us starts and ends with some hope. At a candlelight vigil, the voice of a Muslim American woman tells of the time after the September 11 terrorist attacks and the climate of xenophobia against Muslim Americans like her that

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Established in 1974, the International Examiner is the only non-profit pan-Asian and Pacific Islander American media organization in the country. Named after the International District in Seattle, the “IE” strives to create awareness within and for our APA communities. 409 Maynard Ave. S. #203, Seattle, WA 98104. (206) 624-3925. iexaminer@iexaminer.org.

And Then They Came for Us, a film about Japanese American incarceration, will screen on November 20 at 6 p.m. • Courtesy of the Social Justice Film Festival

followed. The first people to offer reassurances of safety and support were Japanese Americans in southern California.

Seventy-five years after Executive Order 9066 and the forced incarceration of some 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans, the U.S. once again faces persistent of xenophobia, the cultural wars of American identity, and the racialization of law and policy.

The film shows the generational scars and the indignity forced on Japanese Americans, not one of whom was ever found guilty of espionage or treason. In the face of their dehumanization, however, the film captures the resilience and courage to extend the lessons of injustice to a new set of American targets, Muslim Americans.

This year’s Social Justice Film Festival, taking place in four different venues across the city, brings global, national, and local issues together for connections and conversations. It is a powerfully-dense six-day feature on the public interest issues of our time.

In a rare moment, Seattle and the country, have a chance to come together and simply partake in civic engagement. Watch, listen, and learn with filmmakers, thought leaders, and fellow neighbors.

As the Trump administration continues to target Muslims and stokes anti-immi-

IE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Ron Chew, President Gary Iwamoto, Secretary Arlene Oki, At-Large Jordan Wong, At-Large Peggy Lynch, At-Large Nam Le, At-Large COMMUNITY RELATIONS MANAGER Lexi Potter lexi@iexaminer.org

BUSINESS MANAGER Ellen Suzuki finance@iexaminer.org

FELLOWSHIP STAFF Bif Brigman Mitsue Cook

grant sentiment, And Then They Came for Us is a film with a message we cannot forget. Its scrapbook of images is a haunting history lesson. But it also foreshadows the political temptations of extremism in America today.

This year’s film festival will kick off with a collection of films about the immigrant experience. Trails of Hope and Terror tells the story of Sandra and Josseline, two teenage girls’ who encounter border patrol agents at the U.S.-Mexico border. The girls’ stories serve as representative experiences of the who, what, where, when, how, and why of millions of people on both sides of the border, who are inescapably tethered to the complex history and relationship between the U.S. and Mexico. The underlying dynamic of poverty and wealth and the borderless-ness of the search for better opportunity, serves as the constant denominator that exacerbates the otherness of the immigrant experience in America.

The End of Bitterness, an ethnographic documentary about begging in the city of Xi’an, shines a light on poverty in China through the act of begging and how it is perceived. One woman in the film says: “I think some people are pitiful. Some young people have all their hands and feet. Why

EDITOR IN CHIEF Travis Quezon editor@iexaminer.org

MANAGING EDITOR Chetanya Robinson news@iexaminer.org

ARTS EDITOR Alan Chong Lau arts@iexaminer.org

CONTRIBUTORS Aurora Martin Mia Andre Bunthay Cheam Mike Timko Vince Schleitwiler Bob Shimabukuro Grace Madigan Miasmin Andre

DISTRIBUTORS Joshua Kelso Makayla Dorn Maryross Olanday Antonia Dorn Kristen Navaluna Kat Punzalan Eli Savitt Stephany Hernandez Vincent Dy Raleigh Haavig

don’t they get a job?” Another woman says, “I used to give them money. But I don’t know if I am helping or harming that person anymore.” The film reveals the ways society numbs its sense to poverty, especially in the of wake of exponential prosperity over three decades in China. An angry old man provides introductory observations for the film, expounding on the history; how the government once required tributes of the people, and now provides subsidies to the people instead. The beggars are embarrassing, the old man says.

They “humiliate our society—look at them sitting there! What do they look like? Look at that half-naked beggar.”

In the film, hundreds of beggars cluster among the temples, schools, and city centers. A number of the people begging have come here after the harvest season in the countryside. The film profiles three characters: A former village chief, a farmer, and a father who lost everything after a devastating earthquake. Each man has a different story, but they are all compelled to beg due to poverty in the countryside.

The urban-rural divide is a driving factor in this inequality, as the film demonstrates, and even in the face of economic development and a rising middle class in China, there poverty is growing.

While The End of Bitterness focuses on the nature of begging in northwest China, it shows that the urban-rural divide is the same whether you are in the U.S. or China.

Like many social justice issues, it transcends borders.

‘Trails of Hope and Terror’ will be screened at the Social Justice Film Festival Kickoff Night on November 16 at the University Christian Church.

‘The End of Bitterness’ will be screened along with ‘And Then They Came for Us’ on November 20 at the UW Ethnic Cultural Theater.

The screening of ‘And Then They Came for Us’ will be followed by a discussion with Seattle University Law Professor Lorraine Bannai, Director of the Fred Korematsu Center for Law and Equality.

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NEWS

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

November 15, 2017 – December 5, 2017 — 3

Seattle restaurant owner uses success to share Filipino culture

By Miasmin Andre IE Contributor

“Ludi had the means to board and feed me,” he said. “That is why I honor her.

Because of the good teachings and skills I learned from her. Our relationship was not so much about love, but she taught me how to survive. She taught me how to live without a mom.”

If you’re walking down the streets of Seattle and get a sudden craving for pork adobo, your options may be slim. Filipinos make-up nearly 3 percent of Seattle’s population, but finding a traditional Filipino meal is trickier than you think.

A little piece of the Philippines

Last year one of Seattle’s most popular Filipino restaurants, Inay’s, closed due to rising rent, making it even more difficult to find a spot to satisfy that craving.

Now, if you search for Filipino restaurants in Seattle on Google or Yelp, there are only a few results. Some of the more well-known ones are Oriental Mart in Pike Place Market, PhilHouse on Martin Luther King Way, Tropical Hut on Rainier Avenue and Ludi’s in the heart of downtown Seattle.

Ludi’s may look like your average breakfast diner, but it is far from it. Walking up the concrete steps of Pike Street and Second Avenue, the air is filled with smells of garlic fried rice, fresh eggs and Longganisa, a sweet Filipino pork sausage.

By offering both food options, Ludi’s encourages customers to branch out and exposes them to a small piece of Filipino culture.

“I grew up with a pretty diverse food culture. We would always go out for Indian food or Chinese,” says Emma Larkins, a first-time Ludi’s customer.

care of anything that was requested. Rosas continued this for six years before finding work at the terminal moving crates onto barges.

When he 13, Rosas’s life changed when he was spotted at the terminals by an American couple vacationing in Manila.

Gregorio Rosas, current owner of Ludi’s, “They immediately said, ‘You are too views his restaurant as a place that brings young and skinny to be doing this type of two cultures together. work.’” Appalled by harsh terminal condi“Kain tayo!” a customer exclaims— tions, the couple offered him a job as a housetranslated to English, this means “Let’s eat!” boy in their vacation home.

By sharing the traditional breakfasts of This time, his work as a houseboy was difthe U.S. and the Philippines, Rosas has cre- ferent. His hosts were extremely generous ated an environment where Filipino food and offered to send him to school in exchange can flourish. for work. They even offered to take him to “I think the best thing about Ludi’s is that I don’t want to be just a Filipino restaurant per se,” Rosas says. “If you have just Filipino food, sometimes people don’t want to try it. They say, ‘No, I won’t eat the blood stew!’” Instead, Rosas serves both American omelets and Filipino breakfast.

“I have never had anything like this,” she says while eating her garlic fried rice. “It’s Watching this community grow, Rosas a unique flavor profile, and it’s breakfast.” began to form a special bond with the Turf.

Rosas even shares samples with new “I enjoyed staying busy there,” he said. customers who have never tried Filipino “My whole childhood I was taught how to food. work. It was the life I was used to.”

“Sometimes people are scared to order However, Rosas’ commitment was not new foods,” Rosas says. “So, I give them a solely based on his hard work. The Turf little of this and a little of that and they like was also a place where he forged lifelong it. They order more.” friendships. Through continuous dedicaIn Filipino culture, food is connected to tion and selflessness, he built a strong bond friendship, family, and community. with the owner, Altshuler.

“We express ourselves through food in “She knew I didn’t have a lazy bone in so many ways,” says Alexa Rio Osaki, my body,” he says. “I didn’t ever expect grand-goddaughter of the founders of the any rewards. I was just always there for Filipino American National Historic Sociher.” ety. “It’s how we show love for our family and for ourselves. By sharing food with In the end, that work ethic paid off. others, we regain a sense of self.”

In 1988, Altshuler passed her business It is not only food that Rosas is eager to along to Rosas. share. He even prints a “Tagalog slang” “She knew I would take good care of it,” section on the menu to show customers he said. “Any time she needed me, I helped common meal-time phrases. her with no complaints.”

“People are always curious about how to Even other employees have noticed Ropronounce things,” says Pacis. “People ask sas’ dedication to the business. “He’s a rehow to use the slang, and when they see it ally hard worker,” says Pacis. “The owner on the menu, they use it. They tell us our gave this restaurant to him and they aren’t food is ‘masarap.’” In other words, “tasty.” even related. That is how you know he Rosas hopes that his culinary work exworks hard. He earned it.” poses people to a new language and type Since then, the restaurant has been very of cuisine. successful. But as time passed, Rosas “Now we get a lot of Filipinos bringing wanted to put his own twist on this tradiin their American friends. You hear them tional American diner. say ‘Let me try that. I want to try that,’” In 2011, he decided to change the Turf he says. “I think it’s a place for everybody. to Ludi’s. Ludi was Rosas’ mother’s best You win many cultures.” friend growing up—and his informal foster parent from first to sixth grade.

Gregorio Rosas, owner of Ludi’s • Photo by Miasmin Andre

the U.S.

“One summer they said, ‘Gregorio, let us take you to America!’ and I thought ‘Oh my God. Is this real?’” he recalls. “I had no other chance to come to America. This was the best opportunity I could have.”

During his time in Seattle, Rosas has “If you have a place where Americans passed that generosity along. and Filipinos can be together, it becomes “He petitioned my family to come to the happier,” he says.

United States and took all of their expenses,” says Justin Pacis, Ludi’s employee for the past Making way to America seven years. “If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t Ludi’s isn’t just rich in its bold flavors, but be here with you talking right now.” also in stories.

Whether it be for his family, his employRosas’s first job in the United States was ees, or his customers, Rosas is always eager working as a dishwasher. He learned the to help. ropes of restaurant work and adjusting to “Relatives or non-relatives, it doesn’t matAmerican culture. He has worked at Ludi’s ter to him,” Pacis continues. “I see him worksince 1978. ing with strangers and helping them. I used Rosas spent his childhood living in Ma- to think to myself, ‘why was he doing that?’ nila with his mother and nine siblings. His But when he told me about his life, I started mother was diagnosed with terminal breast to get it. I started to want to give more. It’s cancer when Rosas was 7 years old. Shortly contagious.” after, she decided to give Rosas up for informal adoption in the Philippines.

The first taste of the States

“We were poor,” he says, “I don’t think In August of 1978, Rosas came to Seattle my mom could handle the idea that she on a tourist visa and immediately began his wouldn’t be able to take care of me any- career at Ludi’s. Before changing locations in more.”

2011, the restaurant was called The Turf.

At 7, he moved out of his family home The Turf was a traditional American diner and into the arms of a foster parent. Because owned by a young widow named Patricia they were so poor, Rosas had to work. The Altshuler. Although it was small, it was busy pressure of taking care of his younger sib- and had a lot of regular customers. lings began to mount, and although he was “There was a group of elderly people that young, Rosas knew it was time to find a job. would come here a lot. They thought of it as That year he began working as a house- their turf,” Rosas said. “During the afterboy. He bounced from family to family noons or even all day just to socialize, they cleaning houses or making meals, taking played cards. Even the owner was a part of that.”

Ludi’s traditional “Eggrollsilong” breakfast which consists of three fried eggs, garlic fried rice and six pieces of Lumpia with sweet chili sauce. Lumpia is one of their most popular menu items. It is similar to an eggroll and includes a mixture of ground pork, onions, carrots, and other vegetables • Photo by Miasmin Andre

4 — November 15, 2017 – December 5, 2017

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

NEWS/ARTS

Social justice collective Gabriela Seattle celebrates 11 years

By Bunthay Cheam IE Contributor Human rights collective Gabriela Seattle celebrated its 11th anniversary at the newly opened Happy Grillmore in Seattle’s Central District neighborhood on October 28. The anniversary was the closing event in a series of cultural workshops called Pinay Autumn Nights.

Gabriela Seattle is a member of Gabriela USA, an overseas chapter of Gabriela Philippines. It is self described as “a collective of Pin@ys celebrating our multifaceted identities, revolutionary history, and rich culture...work(ing) to build a community in the Seattle area invested in educating, defending, and advocating for the human rights of Filipinas globally.”

The namesake of the organization, Gabriela Silang, was a revolutionary during the late 18th century who led a guerilla campaign for independence against the Spanish, assuming command of her husband’s troops in 1763 after he was assassinated by the colonial regime.

During the 11th anniversary celebration, several members of Gabriela Seattle presented and highlighted the work and change that the organization has helped to effect since it began.

“One thing you’ll see in the big marches and protests all over is our flag. Our presence is out there,” said Rhondalei Gabuat,

​ abriela Seattle at the 11th Anniversary Celebration G • Photo courtesy of Gabriela Seattle

chair of the organization. The organization has a strong presence in the community, made possible through the vast solidarity network it has built in the region throughout the years, Gabuat said.

Gabuat has been a member since 2009 and served in various roles in the organization before becoming chairperson.

Through a friend, she discovered Gabriella Seattle while attending Pinay Summer Nights, the summer version of Pinay Autumn Nights. She was immediately drawn in by its culturally-rich program.

“What got me hooked was learning things that I couldn’t learn through textbooks, things I didn’t learn from talking to my family,” Gabuat said.

The workshop provided a connection to her roots in a way she hadn’t experienced before.

“A lot of this [Filipina] history is suppressed for us, the second generation,” she said. “We were forced to assimilate…partly because our parents wanted to improve their English through us.”

One program Gabriela Seattle facilitates to connect members to their ancestry is “exposure trips,” which bring members to the Philippines to see first-hand the conditions in their homeland.

“I hate the hashtag ‘#itsalwaysbetterinthePhilipines,” Gabuat said. The hashtag shows parts of the Philippines catered to tourists, places that Gabuat believes “gives a very small perception of what the Philippines is really about.”

Through these trips, the organization not only puts members in ground zero but also “put(s) the theory we’ve been organizing around into practice,” Gabuat said.

This includes meeting with marginalized communities of lower socioeconomic status, such as the farming community, and participating in protests and rallies. For many of the members, it is also their first time in the Philippines.

“A lot of folks come back fired up because they know how difficult it is for people that have to live and breathe the situation everyday.”

Leading up to this year’s anniversary celebration, Gabriela Seattle held Pinay Autumn Nights which spanned the month

of October. Free and open to the public, the program consisted of a series of workshops, a film screening around issues such as human trafficking, domestic violence, and self care, as well as a hub for networking and resources with other groups in the region doing similar work.

Gabriela Seattle also uses this event to attract new members. The organization used Filipino pop culture to draw the community to its events.

“Last year we did a play based off of a Filipino teleserye [soap opera or telenovela] called Maalaala Mo Kaya,” Gabuat said.

“This is one way for us to connect to the community because they know what that show is.”

Looking forward, Gabriela Seattle has its sights set on countering the Trump administration’s influence on the Philippines. Labeled Days of Action, Gabriela Seattle plans to work with other organizations in solidarity such as Bayan USA and the Philippine US Solidarity Organization (PUSO) and allies on the ground in the Philippines to counter growing US military influence, including a revitalization of Clark Airfield, as well as forced migration, and sex tourism.

You can follow Gabriela USA through their Facebook page for the most up-to-date events.

The scholar litle-known scholar who introduced Japan to the West

By Mike Timko IE Contributor The life of and career of Lafcadio Hearn’s (1850-1904) are interesting and colorful.

Known to many by his Japanese name, Yakumo Koizumi, he was a journalist, translator, educator and writer, and his works were widely read and influential in shaping Western views of Japan in the late 19th century.

Hearn’s life is as enigmatic as his stories.

Hearn was born in 1850 on the Greek island of Levkas or Lefcadia, to Rosa Casssimati, the daughter of an old Ionian family, and Charles Bush Hearn, an Anglo-Irish officer in the British army. He was christened Patricio Lafcadio Tessima Carlos Hearn. Later Hearn wrote: “My father was attacked by my mother’s brother, terribly stabbed, and left for dead. He recovered and eloped with my mother.” Shortly afterward the army transferred Charles to the British West Indies and Hearn and Rosa went to Dublin to live with his father’s family.

In Dublin, Hearn’s mother’s mental state deteriorated, and she was sent back to Levkas, while Hearn became the ward of his Roman Catholic great aunt, Mrs. Brenane.

Unable to take care of him, she promptly sent him abroad to Catholic schools, first to a seminary in France and then to St. Cuthbert’s College in northern England.

Hearn would now embark on a series of journeys. When his great aunt lost her money to a swindler, she sent him to live with a former maid living in London. Unhappy there, Hearn ran away and survived as best he could, often sleeping in stables. He returned to his great aunt, who then sent him off to Cincinnati to people she knew, but

they wanted nothing to do with this “alien and grotesque” stranger. They gave him five dollars and told him to leave. Hearn later wrote about this period of his life: “At nineteen years of age, before I had seen anything of the world except in a year of London among the common folk, I was dropped moneyless on the pavement of an American city to begin life. Often slept in the street, worked as a servant, waiter, printer, proofreader, hack-writer, gradually pulled myself up.”

Fortunately for him, Hearn attracted the attention of Henry Watkin, an English printer, who gave him a home and helped him find odd jobs as salesman, printer and copy editor. In 1872 he was hired as a reporter on the Cincinnati Enquirer and in 1875 went to work for the Cincinnati Commercial. His reporting won him a following, particularly his gruesome stories about crime and lurid events in the city.

At this time Hearn also began to translate contemporary French literature, including works by Flaubert and Maupassant. At the same time he married Alelthea ‘Mattie’ Foley, a young black woman who was born a slave. This was an affront to established convention and law, as marriage between the races was forbidden. Mattie was a talented storyteller, and this had attracted Hearn to her, but it soon became evident to both that the differences between them-racial, educational and economic--were too great. They separated and Hearn, realizing the problems he would face if he stayed in Cincinnati, began another period of travel.

From 1877 to 1890, he traveled to New Orleans, Martinique and the West Indies.

His writing during this time reflects his in-

terest in social, economic and racial problems. Hearn was fascinated with the tropics.

When he visited the New Orleans World Exposition in 1884 he met Ichizo Hatton, the representative in charge of the Japanese exhibit. This led Hearns visiting Japan.

For Hearn, Japan became the home he had never had. His contribution to our understanding of that country, through his teaching and writing, is not as widely known as it should be. Earl Miner, one of our preeminent scholars, wrote in The Japanese Tradition in British and American Literature, “There is scarcely another man in history who has become a sympathetic symbol to two different cultures.”

In spite of his deep affinity with Japan, Hearn’s initial impression of the country was not favorable. As in Cincinnati, he was able to find a “patron,” Basil Hall Chamberlain, a linguist and professor at Tokyo University. It was through Chamberlain that Hearn learned about Japanese literature and history. Through Chamberlain also Hearn was able to secure a teaching position in Matsue, Shimane prefecture, about 450 miles southwest of Tokyo. He remained there for fifteen months, was accepted by the people, and married Setsuko Koizumi, the daughter of a samurai who had nursed him back to health when he was sick with an illness brought on by the extreme harsh weather. They remained married until his death in 1904 and had four children, three sons and a daughter. To avoid any legal complications that his foreign citizenship might have upon his wife and her family, Hearn became a naturalized Japanese citizen, adopting his wife’s family name, Koizumi, “Little Spring.” In

1896, he adopted his wife’s entire family, and at one time had thirteen people dependent on him.

After leaving Matsue because of its harsh climate, Hearn taught at the Government College at Kumanoto; worked on the Kobe Chronicle until his poor eyesight forced him to resign; and in 1896 accepted the chair of English Literature at the Imperial University of Tokyo, which he held until 1903. He died of a heart attack on September 26, 1904. He was honored with a Buddhist ceremony and his ashes were buried in Tokyo.

If Hearn is remembered today in Japan for his lectures on Western literature, he is probably best known today in the U.S. for his writings on Japan, especially his tales of the supernatural. Of the twenty books he wrote in his lifetime, twelve are about Japan. While he modestly insisted until the day he died that he knew very little about Japan, his writings convey to the Western mind much of Eastern culture, thought, and sensibility. He is still a popular figure in Japan, and thousands of tourists still visit the Lafcadio Hearn Memorial Museum, curated by his great grandson, Bon Koizumi, in Matsue.

There are special collections of Hearniana in New Orleans, Cincinnati, Virginia and Harvard, as well as the Library of Congress. His tales are still read by Japanese schoolchildren. While he is no longer regarded as one of the major interpreters of Japan for the West, more and more critics and readers are beginning to recognize the importance of this fascinating and complex personality as an American translator, literary critic and author.

ARTS

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

November 15, 2017 – December 5, 2017 — 5

What kids can learn from Fred Korematsu

By Vince Schleitwiler IE Contributor

Stories have a way of changing when you tell them to someone new.

Stan Yogi was 10 years old when he learned about what happened to his family during World War II. At the time, roller-skating, basketball, and piano lessons were his major concerns. Then he found out that his mother graduated from high school in Manzanar, a concentration camp in California. Decades later, it’s Yogi’s turn to introduce a new generation to this history. Fred Korematsu Speaks Up, written with Laura Atkins and illustrated

by Yutaka Houlette, tells the story of a softspoken young man who found the courage to challenge Japanese American incarceration all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Many of the roughly sixty people who came out to hear the authors speak at the Wing Luke Museum on October 28 could tell similar stories. But, as Atkins told the crowd, Karen Korematsu’s was different. At sixteen, Karen learned about the camps from a friend’s report for class. But when her friend mentioned Korematsu v. United States, the famous case of a young man who refused to comply with the exclusion orders, all the students turned to look at her. Back at home, her mother explained that the young man was her father, Fred. When he came home that night, Atkins related, he had just three things to tell his daughter: “It happened a long time ago. I was right. But I lost.” Four years later, the same thing happened to Karen’s brother, Ken. Decades after redress, it is this stage of Korematsu’s life—when the lonely courage of his legal challenge had shaded into the quiet oblivion of his struggle to raise a family—

Laura Atkins (left) and Stan Yogi (right), co-authors of Fred Korematsu Speaks Up

that feels most devastating. Or perhaps it just seems that way to me as a father.

In any case, the book is full of details that readers of all ages will find informative and moving. One example shared by Yogi is a handwritten 1945 letter, reproduced in facsimile in the book. After learning of his defeat at the Supreme Court, Korematsu wrote to reassure Ernest Besig, his lawyer, that he and the American Civil Liberties Union had done everything they could. Not only did Korematsu express his gratitude, but he took the time to congratulate Besig on the birth of his daughter—a detail that, in Yogi’s words, “says so much about Fred as a human being.”

The combination of historical details with an episodic account of Korematsu’s life, gracefully narrated in short, free-verse poems, makes the book both accessible to younger readers and capable of holding their interest as they grow. Professor Lorraine Bannai, who shared research with Yogi and Atkins while writing a scholarly book on Korematsu, described the fact-checking process for a children’s book as more intense than that of academic publishing. Bannai, who directs

Seattle University’s Fred Korematsu Center for Law and Equality, was a member of the legal team that successfully challenged Korematsu’s conviction in the 1980s by proving that the government suppressed evidence refuting its claims of a “military necessity” for the camps.

While public speaking did not come naturally to Korematsu, Bannai told the audience at the Wing Luke that he rallied himself to do it. “He loved speaking to students,” Yogi said, “and one of them was me!” Something about Yogi’s experience with Korematsu while he was a UCLA undergraduate, must have rubbed off, because Yogi and Atkins report having spoken to over 6,000 students, at schools including Seattle’s Dearborn Park Elementary and Bellevue’s Open Window School.

They know how to get kids’ attention, as well. “If you only had five days to pack up your belongings, what would you take?” Yogi asked at the Wing Luke reading. One firstgrader, Amelia Mason-Smith, could barely believe it. “I would have packed something that made me feel brave, and my toothbrush, and something special, like a watch or bracelet,” she said afterwards. The authors also reported that students are usually “slack jawed” on seeing an image of the shared toilet stalls at California’s Tanforan detention facility in Miné Okubo’s graphic memoir, Citizen 13660.

Contemplating the lack of privacy and the smells, my daughter Yuuna Tajiri, another first-grader, observed with disgust, “Tanforan was made for horses, not human beings.”

For Atkins, who found her connection to Korematsu through her family history of activism, the message for kids goes further.

Sharing her own experiences with anti-nuclear and anti-apartheid protests in junior high, she advised: “When you speak up, sometimes adults pay attention, and it makes a difference.” The authors proudly told the story of Jana, Mona, and Batool, three young girls at Fred T. Korematsu Elementary School in Davis, California, who organized a fundraiser after their mosque was vandalized.

Yogi and Atkins took care to honor other children’s books about Japanese American incarceration, such as Baseball Saved Us, by Seattle’s own Ken Mochizuki. Like its predecessors, Fred Korematsu Speaks Up asks: What is the future of this history? Who is this story being told for now, and who will listen?

For many people these days, the answer lies in activism that extends beyond the Japanese American community. Both Atkins and Mika Kurose Rothman, who spoke briefly at the event on behalf of the Seattle Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), celebrated the recent airport protests against the Trump administration’s Muslim ban. In telling his family history, Yogi revealed that his paternal grandfather would be considered an undocumented immigrant today—a story he makes sure to share with students when he visits schools.

After the reading, I strolled over to the BorderLands exhibition at King Street Station with my first-grade daughter and listened as she reflected on what she’d learned about the conditions of the camps, the actions of the government, and her late great-grandmother, who had been incarcerated at Poston, Arizona. Later that evening, before she went to bed, I found her quietly reciting a short poem she’d seen in the book, written by a young girl incarcerated at camp Topaz.

Human Harvest documentary exposes China’s illegal organ harvesting

By Grace Madigan IE Contributor Human Harvest, a Peabody award-winning documentary about the reports of China’s illegal harvesting of organs, screened to a full lecture hall on the University of Washington campus November 9.

In 2006, human rights lawyer David Matas and former Canadian politician David Kilgour released a report showing evidence that supported the existence of illegal harvesting of organs from political prisoners in China.

The film screening was organized by the Partnership for Community and Diversity, student group within the Evans School of Public Policy that’s focused on social justice. After the screening, the film’s director Leon Lee answered questions.

“These are the evidence and the hope is that you look at it yourself, you look at the reports these gentlemen have done and then draw your conclusion,” Lee said.

The film shows footage of Dr. Damon Noto, a spokesperson for Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting, giving testimony at a Congressional hearing. According to the film, China claims they perform around 10,000 transplants per year, and that they get the organs from prisoners facing execution.

However, there are at most 8,000 prisoners in a given year in China who would be executed. The film explains that even if there were 10,000 prisoners to be executed, it doesn’t mean there were 10,000 matches.

The big question Noto then asks is where

are all these organs coming from? China did not have a voluntary organ donor system until 2010. The rest of the film builds on evidence indicating that these transplants are coming from living organ donors who are political prisoners.

Liz Harding, co-chair of the Partnership for Community and Diversity, was introduced to the film by Cheryl Yu, a member of the group. Yu and Harding both worked at human rights organizations over the summer and decided the film would be a good way to ground a conversation about this issue.

Harding remembers a family of Falun Gong refugees telling her about witnessing the illegal organ harvesting and the torture they experienced before escaping China.

Falun Gong is a religion based in meditation and promotes healthy living. As the film explained, Falun Gong practitionershave been persecuted by the Chinese government since 1999. Many suspect that the Communist Party grew fearful of Falun Gong’s rising popularity..

A study from the film showed that the increased persecution of Falun Gong practitioners correlated with an increase in organ transplants since 1999. For a possible reason why Falun Gong prisoners are targeted for organ harvesting is their healthy lifestyle.

The film highlights the testimony of Annie, who worked in a hospital in China.

Her husband was a surgeon and performed transplants. Annie describes discovering the use of Falun Gong practitioners as live organ donors.

Her husband confirmed what she had discovered, and horrified by the truth, she divorced him. Eventually her husband couldn’t take the emotional toll of the surgeries. He quit and was forced to flee the country.

In the film, Annie describes the process her husband told her about. Doctors would conduct extensive blood tests to try and find a match, and then extract the necessary organs and incinerate the bodies when done so there was no evidence.

According to Matas and Kilgour’s report the average waiting time to get a kidney transplant in the U.S. is 1,825 days. In China it is just 15 days. The film shows hospitals advertising wait times of as short as one week.

Medical professionals interviewed in the film explained that in order to promise quick waiting times, the surgeons had to have known when the person was going to die, to be able to extract the organs on time. This would suggest a kill-to-order system.

Matas and Kilgour’s attempt at investigating the hospitals in person failed when they couldn’t get visas. Instead, they were able to get several translators to pose as patients interested in transplants, and call hospitals across China to confirm information from them.

The translators asked how long it would be before they could get a transplant and who the organs were from. About 15 percent of hospitals gave gave short wait times,and admitted that the organs were being taken from Falun Gong practitioners.

After the screening, Lee talked about how he got into this subject. Lee is now a Canadian citizen, but he used to be a Chinese citizen and prided himself in keeping current with Chinese politics and news. When he read Matas and Kilgour’s report in 2006 he dedicated the next eight years to the documentary.

Lee emphasized in the Q&A his wish that people look at the evidence both from his film and from other studies and papers..

He hopes people will learn about this issue and apply pressure both externally and internally for an independent investigation to determine if illegal organ harvesting is indeed happening.

“I would very much hope that at the end of the day, all my research was wrong,” Lee said.

6 — November 15, 2017 – December 5, 2017

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

A view of I-5 and I-90 from Dr. José Rizal Park in Beacon Hill • Photo by Chetanya Robinson

. . . POLLUTION: Continued from page 1

that it concentrated the level of noise over their neighborhood. An FAA administrator

told the Seattle Times in 2012 that the new flight path wasn’t to blame for the noise over neighborhoods like Beacon Hill. Lorenzana, though, believes Beacon Hill residents have experienced an increase in air traffic since the Greener Skies program.

The noise pollution exacerbates the already considerable health problems in the neighborhood, Lorenzana said. “We already have this group of people on Beacon Hill who have these health disparities and socioeconomic indicators which make them more at risk,” Lorenzana said. “And now we have this concentration of noise that can have health effects similar to the ones that are already experienced.”

El Centro de la Raza is one of consortium of seven nonprofits put together by Batayola and Lorenzana, collectively called Community Health Advocates Collaboration Against Aircraft Emissions & Noise (CHAC). Most of the nonprofits are already dedicated to addressing community health, environmental, labor and equity issues primarily for communities of color in the Chinatown International District (CID) and south Seattle, and include International Community Health Services (ICHS), the Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority

(SCIDpda) and Puget Sound Sage, each located in the CID, as well as Got Green, El Centro de la Raza, Asian Counseling and Referral Service, and Quieter Skies of Beacon Hill.

People living in Beacon Hill might not know about the health risks of air and noise pollution partly because the information isn’t always accessible, Batayola said. “It’s published in English, it’s on a website. If you happen to be studying public health or you have health practitioners in the family, I think you would know,” she said. “Our suspicion is that most of the people in Beacon Hill don’t know.”

Batayola believes that people in Beacon Hill get used to the environmental conditions and don’t notice them. And even if people are aware of widespread asthma, they not necessarily link it to systemic air pollution.

But Batayola believes that to get people to care about air and noise pollution, you have to make it personal. “When people are working to make ends meet, they’re busy with their children, busy with their lives, air quality is not one that rises pretty quickly,” she said.

The project distributed an informational report on air pollution to hundreds of people in six languages commonly spoken in Beacon Hill: English, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Somali and Chinese-Taishanese.

The purpose of the project is to educate and empower Beacon Hill residents, Batayola said. This involved “asking them, what are the actions that they want themselves, and

NEWS

People living in Beacon Hill might not know about the health risks of air and noise pollution partly because the information isn’t always accessible • Photo by Chetanya Robinson

their families and the neighborhood, to take to improve the health of the situation?” Batayola said. “This goes back to a fundamental when you’re doing environmental justice, crossculturally competent approach, which is you make sure that the communities are involved.”

If the Beacon Hill community is aware of the environmental health risks facing them, they can more easily work to mitigate them, Batayola said. “When a community is informed about the conditions that affect them, and they care about themselves and their families and their communities, then they’re likely to take action,” she said. “And then that action becomes sustainable because we’re listening to what is important to them.”

But when it comes to air and noise pollution, it will be hard to achieve quick, sweeping changes. According to Larson of the UW, individuals and families can make positive changes in their own homes (like keeping the windows closed or installing air filters).

But systemic problems remain. “The larger issue that we struggle with is the impacts from broader transportation,” said Tania Park, Equity & Community Engagement Manager at the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. “There’s a reason those trucks are driving through the communities and are just present, period. It drives our economy, our economy drives the need for those.”

And when it comes to compensation or mitigation from larger entities, this might be diffi-

cult, said Larson. “The institutions that would potentially have to pay for it, which would be SeaTac, the air carriers, the federal government, whoever you would argue, they’re going to either expect a very persuasive case, or they’re going to say that on the basis of their evidence, they may not see it as a problem.

And that’s where communities can advocate for having more noise measurements done.”

Yet, according to Park, the community holds a lot of influence, since governmental can’t lobby for itself or its own ideas. “The residents have way more power to be able to push things through,” she said.

For now, Batayola hopes the mitigation will happen at the individual and family level and building from this, a neighborhood level.

Despite a Trump administration that wants to eliminate the EPA’s environmental justice programs entirely, the EPA grant is safe for two years. There may be other funding sources in the future, according to Lorenzana. And according to Batayola, the community can continue to work on the issue on its own.

El Centro de la Raza’s philosophy, Batayola pointed out, is based on Dr. Martin Luther King’s notion of the Beloved Community—an attitude of limitless goodwill and love directed toward building community. Underneath the data and research, Batayola said, this is what underlies the whole project. “This is another part of how you love the community— through its health.”

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

COMMUNITY

November 15, 2017 – December 5, 2017 — 7

International Community Health Services opens new vision clinic IE News Services International Community Health Services (ICHS), the largest neighborhood-based health care provider for Asian Pacific Islander and immigrant communities in Washington state, held a ribboncutting service on November 7 to celebrate the opening of its new vision clinic in the Chinatown International District.

The 1,200-square-foot clinic, located in a storefront across the plaza from the ICHS medical-dental building in International District Village Square, was built with support from a $350,000 grant from the City of Seattle. Design began in October 2016, and the clinic was completed last month. The clinic includes two exam rooms and is expected to handle approximately 900 visits by its second year of operation.

Dr. Andrea Liem, optometrist for the new clinic, says she’s excited to start serving ICHS patients. She said the emphasis of the clinic will be providing primary eye care.

She pointed out that she herself has been going to see an optometrist since middle school. “I’ve worn contact lenses and eyeglasses in the past, and eventually had laser surgery to correct my myopia,” Dr. Liem said.

“Based on my personal experience and my family’s need for vision care, I am able to empathize with and better serve my patients.”

ICHS currently provides primary care to nearly 29,000 patients in over

From left: Tom Van Bronkhorst, City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, strategic advisor; Teresita Batayola, ICHS CEO; Dr. Andrea Liem, ICHS optometrist; former City of Seattle council member Jean Godden; Ron Chew, ICHS Foundation director; and ICHS board members Nancy Lee and Barbara Obena, cut the ribbon to celebrate the opening of ICHS Vision Clinic in the International District. • Photo by Charles Lee

50 different languages at its seven clinic locations in Seattle, Shoreline, and Bellevue.

The vision clinic concept arose out of discovery that only half of ICHS patients completed their referrals for eye care. Teresita Batayola, ICHS CEO, said, “Vision problems in the United States are the most prevalent disability among children and youth, and is one of the top disabilities for adults.”

Batayola noted that next year will be the 45th anniversary of ICHS. “It’s nice to finally have this sorely needed service in place as we celebrate our agency’s milestone,” she said.

Amanda Chin, a Beacon Hill resident, had strongly advocated for the vision clinic as a member of the ICHS patient advisory council several years ago. “For me to be able to voice this and now actually seeing it happen is amazing,” said Chin. She and her

JACL Youth Leadership Seminar Series Nov. 18 IE News Services The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Youth Leadership Seminar series presents Nonprofits– Leadership and Advocacy for Social Justice, on Saturday, November 18, 2017 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Keiro Northwest Rehabilitation & Care Center, Garden and Kimochi Rooms (1601 E Yesler Way, Seattle, WA 98144)

of topics essential for anyone aspiring to lead an NPO. Later, there will be an informal lunch and group discussion with key community leaders to exchange ideas on what works and what doesn’t work in advocacy. Confirmed leaders at this time are Washington State Senator Bob Hasegawa, Community Activist Sharon Maeda, and Kristina Logsdon,

The seminar looks at the basics of a 501(c)(3) organization and the “do’s and don’ts” of political advocacy for a non-profit organization (NPO). What is non-political? What is non-partisan?

What are the IRS requirements and State of Washington statutes governing 501(c)(3) groups? What are limitations on fundraising? When can a 501(c)(3) be liable in fundraising events or volunteer events?

Wayfind, a 501(c)(3) organization of volunteer lawyers whose goal is to assist Washington Non-Profit Organizations, will give an overview

Chief of Staff for King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski.

Continental Breakfast and Lunch provided. Free, but prior registration required.

Register at: https://jaclleadershipnonprofits.eventbrite.com

K- 8 OPEN HOUSE January 4, 2018 5:00 - 7:00 pm 206. 691 . 2625

seattlecountryday.org

family—including her mother, father, two brothers and sister—are longtime ICHS patients. Members of the Chin family attended the ribbon-cutting.

Former Seattle City Council member Jean Godden, who helped secure the $350,000 grant from the City during the 2015 budget process, was also at the ceremony. The grant was one of Godden’s last pieces of legislation before she retired.

8 — November 15, 2017 – December 5, 2017

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

ARTS

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

November 15, 2017 – December 5, 2017 — 9

10 — November 15, 2017 – December 5, 2017

Arts & Culture Asia Pacific Cultural Center 4851 So. Tacoma Way Tacoma, WA 98409 Ph: 253-383-3900 Fx: 253-292-1551 faalua@comcast.net www.asiapacificculturalcenter.org Bridging communities and generations through arts, culture, education and business.

Friends of Asian Art Association (FA3) P.O. Box 15404 Seattle, WA 98115 206-522-5438 friendsofasianart2@gmail.com www.friendsofasianart.org To advance understanding, appreciation and support for Asian arts and cultures, the Friends of Asian Art Association provides and supports programs, activities and materials that reflect the arts and cultures of countries that make up the broad and diverse spectrum of Asia.

Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Washington 1414 S Weller Street Seattle, WA 98144 Ph: 206-568-7114 admin@jcccw.org www.jcccw.org JCCCW is committed to preserving, promoting, and sharing Japanese and Japanese American culture and heritage.

Programs: Japanese Language School | Cultural Events | Library | Resale Store | Internship & Volunteer Opportunities | Historical Exhibitions | Rental Space RAJANA Society Seattle, WA 206-979-3206 sameth@rajanasociety.org

RAJANA Society is an Arts & Civics project focusing on civic engagement and bridging cultural divides with the Cambodian Diaspora.

Civil Rights & Advocacy Organization of Chinese Americans Asian Pacific American Advocates Greater Seattle Chapter P.O. Box 14141 Seattle, WA 98114

COMMUNITY RESOURCE DIRECTORY

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

Homelessness Services

Professional & Leadership Development

YouthCare 2500 NE 54th Street Seattle, WA 98105 206-694-4500 info@youthcare.org www.youthcare.org

Working to prevent and end youth homelessness with services including meals, shelter, housing, job training, education, and more.

Homeownership Services HomeSight 5117 Rainier Ave S Seattle, WA 98118 ph: 206-723-4355 fx: 206-760-4210 www.homesightwa.org NMLS#49289 HomeSight creates homeownership opportunities through first mortgage lending, down payment assistance, real estate development, homebuyer education, and counseling.

Housing Services InterIm Community Development Association 310 Maynard Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104 Ph: 206-624-1802 Services: 601 S King St, Ph: 206-623-5132 Interimicda.org Multilingual community building: affordable housing, housing counseling, homelessness prevention, advocacy, teen leadership, and the Danny Woo Community Garden.

Executive Development Institute 310 – 120th Ave NE. Suite A102 Bellevue, WA Ph: 425-467-9365 edi@ediorg.org • www.ediorg.org EDI offers culturally relevant leadership development programs.

WE MAKE LEADERS Fostering future leaders through education, networking and community NAAAP Seattle services for Asian American Queen Anne Station professionals and entreP.O. Box 19888 preneurs.

Seattle, WA 98109 Facebook: NAAAP-Seattle info@naaapseattle.org Twitter: twitter.com/naaapwww.naaapseattle.org seattle

Senior Services

The Kin On Team is ready to serve YOU! www.kinon.org

Kawabe Memorial House 221 18th Ave S Seattle, WA 98144 ph: 206-322-4550 connie.devaney@gmail.com We provide affordable, safe, culturally sensitive housing and support services to people aged 62 and older.

Immigration Services

Denise Louie Education Center 206-767-8223 info@deniselouie.org www.deniselouie.org

Offering home visiting services for children birth to 3 and full & part-day multicultural preschool education for ages 3 to 5 in the International District, Beacon Hill and Rainier Beach.

Washington New Americans Program OneAmerica 1225 S. Weller St., Suite 430 Seattle, WA 98144 Are you a lawful permanent resident? The Washington New Americans program can help you complete your application for U.S. citizenship. Low-cost and free services available – please call our hotline or visit www.wanewamericans.org.

Text or call: 206-926-3924 Email: wna@weareoneamerica.org Website: www.wanewamericans.org

Social & Health Services Asian Counseling & Referral Service 3639 Martin Luther King Jr. Way S Seattle, WA 98144 ph: 206-695-7600 fx: 206-695-7606 events@acrs.org www.acrs.org ACRS offers multilingual, behavioral health and social services to Asian Pacific Americans and other low-income people in King County.

APICAT 601 S King St. Seattle, WA 98104 ph: 206-682-1668 www.apicat.org Addressing tobacco, marijuana prevention and control and other health disparities in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner.

Cathay Post #186 of The American Legion Supporting veterans for over 70 years Accepting new members—contact us today to learn more! (206) 355-4422 P.O. Box 3281 Seattle, WA 98144-3281 cathaypost@hotmail.com

www.ocaseattle.org

Education

Southeast Seattle Senior Center 4655 S. Holly St., Seattle, WA 98118 ph: 206-722-0317 fax: 206-722-2768 kateh@seniorservices.org www.sessc.org Daytime activities center providing activities social services, trips, and community for seniors and South Seattle neighbors. We have weaving, Tai Chi, indoor beach-ball, yoga, dance, senior-oriented computer classes, trips to the casino, and serve scratch cooked lunch. Open Monday through Friday, 8:30-4. Our thrift store next door is open Mon-Fri 10-2, Sat 10-4. This sweet center has services and fun for the health and well-being of boomers and beyond. Check us out on Facebook or our website.

Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs GA Bldg., 210 11th Ave SW, Suite 301A Olympia, WA 98504 ph: (360) 725-5667 www.facebook.com/wacapaa capaa@capaa.wa.gov www.capaa.wa.gov Statewide liaison between government and APA communities. Monitors and informs the public about legislative issues.

Seattle Chinatown/International District Preservation and Development Authority ph: 206-624-8929 fx: 206-467-6376 info@scidpda.org Housing, property management and community development.

OCA—Greater Seattle Chapter was formed in 1995 and since that time it has been serving the Greater Seattle Chinese and Asian Pacific American community as well as other communities in the Pacific Northwest.

It is recognized in the local community for its advocacy of civil and voting rights as well as its sponsorship of community activities and events.

Senior Services

Keiro Northwest 1601 E Yesler Way, Seattle, WA 98122 ph: 206-323-7100 www.keironorthwest.org rehabilitation care | skilled nursing | assisted living | home care | senior day care | meal delivery | transportation | continuing education | catering services

Legacy House

803 South Lane Street Seattle, WA 98104 ph: 206-292-5184 fx: 206-838-3057 info@legacyhouse.org www.scidpda.org/programs/legacyhouse. aspx Services offered: Assisted Living, Adult Day Services, meal programs for low-income seniors.

Chinese Information & Service Center 611 S Lane St, Seattle, WA 98104 ph: 206-624-5633 fax: 206-624-5634 info@cisc-seattle.org www.cisc-seattle.org Creating opportunities for Asian immigrants and their families to succeed by helping them make the transition to a new life while keeping later generations in touch with their rich heritage.

Want to join the Community Resource Directory? Contact lexi@iexaminer.org

COMMUNITY RESOURCE DIRECTORY

Social & Health Services

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

November 15, 2017 – December 5, 2017 — 11

Since 1935

Tai Tung Restaurant International District Medical & Dental Clinic 720 8th Avenue S, Seattle, WA 98104 ph: 206-788-3700 email: info@ichs.com website: www.ichs.com

Banquet Facilities - Catering - Delivery

Bellevue Medical & Dental Clinic 1050 140th Avenue NE, Bellevue, WA 98005 ph: 425-373-3000 Shoreline Medical & Dental Clinic 16549 Aurora Avenue N, Shoreline, WA 98133 ph: 206-533-2600 Holly Park Medical & Dental Clinic 3815 S Othello St, Seattle, WA 98118 ph: 206-788-3500 The largest Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community health center in Washington state, ICHS provides medical, dental, behavioral health and pharmacy care with multilingual doctors, nurses and staff experienced in meeting the needs of King County’s diverse and multicultural communities. All are welcome and sliding fee scales are available for uninsured patients.

7301 Beacon Ave S Seattle, WA 98108 ph: 206-587-3735 fax: 206-748-0282 www.idicseniorcenter.org info@idicseniorcenter.org

Come Enjoy the Oldest Chinese Restaurant in Town!

IDIC is a nonprofit human services organization that offers wellness and social service programs to Filipinos and API communities.

655 S King St, Seattle, WA 98104 (206) 622-7372

Parking & Transportation Services

Mon-Thurs 11am-10:30pm Fri-Sat 11am-12am Sun 11am-10pm

206-624-3426 transia@aol.com Merchants Parking provides convenient and affordable community parking. Transia provides community transportation: para-transportation services, shuttle services, and field trips in and out of Chinatown/International District, and King County.

Answers to this puzzle are on Wednesday, December 6.

Fo’ Real: The Most Potent Weapon—Internalized Economic/Racist Oppression

By Bob Shimabukuro IE Columnist Poverty story 1: ‘lectric Man Blues A light Manoa drizzle tapped gently on our roof. I was laid up with an asthma attack, trying desperately to breathe. Mom was with me, gently rubbing my back, singing.

My brother’s cocker spaniel, named Ronnie Hansen Shimabukuro after the Baltimore Oriole shortstop, lay just off the futon as close as he could get to us without being shooed off. As was usually the case with mom, my undivided attention was not expected. Often I just drifted off. But this time I felt her anxiety as a car drove up our driveway.

Mom stopped singing, got up, peeked out the window, returned quietly, gently petted Ronnie, and sat down next to me again.

“Electric man,” she said softly. “Shhh,” she admonished Ronnie.

The bill collector pounded on the door.

“Anybody home?” he asked loudly. Ronnie growled softly, looked at mom, who again warned him to be quiet with the old “stink eye.” Ronnie calmly went back to his spot, stretched out and carefully watched my mom with his inquisitive eyes.

After about five minutes of absolute stillness inside the house and a racket outside our front door, the “electric man” left.

“Good dog, Ronnie. I guess you can stay in the house today,” sighed mom with relief as she went to the door to pick up the all-toofamiliar termination-of-service notice.

“Well, at least we gained another 24 hours by sitting still ... and tomorrow’s payday,” she said as she laughed softly.

Poverty story 2: Watah Man Blues The dreaded knock on the door. This time

the younger kids had come home from school already, no way Mom could avoid the “watah man.”

“You get the money?”

“No,” Mom answered.

“Oh, no, I got to shut you down, you know.”

“Yeah, I know.” Mom sighed.

Watah man look very uncomfortable. He could see all the kids in the house. After a pause he say, “ Tell you what, I come back in an hour. Get all da kine containahs you get, fill ‘em up wit’ watah. Okay? Maybe get enough so last till tomorrow.”

Sam and I wen’ fill up a lot of stuff. Don’t know what Mom did, but the next day, the watah man came by about noon in a much better mood, because he could turn on da watah. My mom thanked him for his help.

Someone had paid the bill. Mom w’en figure out a solution.

Poverty story 3: School Daze First day, teacher w’en pass out list of stuff we need for class. I already nervous. I know mom going have hard time buy all the supplies for everybody.

I ask Mom, “Can I get the color pencils. Can do more stuff than crayons. Can mix colors nice. Smudge stuff too.”

“We’ll see,” she says, not committing herself.

“Just the 8-pencil pack will be okay. I’ll take good care of them. Make ‘em last a whole year.”

I was so happy when I found out that Mom did indeed buy the 8-Pack.

The next morning at school a classmatemate, Sandra, asked, “What kind of colors did you get, pencils or crayons?”

I showed her my box and she was elated.

“Great!” she said. “When I asked my mom if I could get the color pencils, she said, ‘if Bob can get pencils, I guess it wouldn’t be so bad if you bought some too.’ “ I smiled, but inside my stomach was churning. I felt that my purchases had become benchmarks for needs and extravagances.

That bothered bothered me. “Poor Bob can afford this, then so can I.” Poverty Story number 4: Palama Settlement Teacher say, “Good news. Everybody turned in their OK cards. (Dental cards, brought from the Dentist, to ensure every one had no teeth issues. The rest of the class had gone to their family dentist during the summer for checkups.)

“Well, everyone except Bob, but he doesn’t count, because he goes to Palama Settlement for dental work, and he has to wait until his turn comes up.”

“What’s this about?” I asked myself.

“So, since everybody else has turned in their OK cards, we were the first class to turn in the 100%, which means that we will get some ice cream.”

“Will Bob get some too?,” asked some kid.

“Of course,” teacher answered.

“Well, that’s nice,” I thought to myself. But I didn’t dare look around to find out who was looking out for me. I wanted to hide. And “Bob doesn’t count,” and “Palama Settlement” meant one thing: it had something to do with being poor.

These events occurred often, especially when I was in school. I didn’t know then how much they affected me. They don’t fit the categories that were offered at the Seabrooke racism workshops, but they do reflect that an internalized oppression that still puts me on

the defensive and still hurts, even after life past 72 years.

Another of these oppressions is language, and after being challenged by a friend about language, and the King’s/Queen’s English being superior than pidgin English, well, I can’t let that go without a reply.

So that’s next.

In the meantime, I’d like to leave you with this story about my grandson Mako’ told by his dad Wayne: Yesterday, walking home from school, I asked Mako (2nd Grade) if he had learned about Columbus at school. He said, yes, and so I asked him what he had learned. He said he had learned that Columbus stole from the Native Americans and killed a lot of them.

He later said that learning about those things kind of bummed him out, which I did understand. Columbus was a real bummer.

“Yes!” I thought. That 2nd grade class has more fo’ real information/knowledge than our President, his cabinet and over half of Congress. A very good start! It also affirmed that the coming generations are going to be all right.

Postscript: Oppression

Internalized

Racist

BS: “Zenwa, you ever hear about IRO?” ZS: “Not the Oppression part. But the ‘Internalized Racism’ part, yeah.”

“Well, what does it mean?”

“Internalizing our own racial stereotypes.”

An inferiority complex based upon treatment by the dominant culture. —BS How to deal with yourself in a world of crap is a major part of coming to terms with internalized racial oppression. —Alice Ito

12 — November 15, 2017 – December 5, 2017

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

2017 Vote: Election results are in IE News Services The King County Election on November 7 resulted in a new mayor and City Council member in Seattle, a new King County Sheriff, and a new state senator on the Eastside who will tip the balance of power in Washington state toward full Democratic control.

Turnout was 50 percent in Seattle and 43 percent in King County, according to King County Elections.

Jenny Durkan won a decisive victory over Cary Moon in the race for Seattle mayor, picking up 57 percent of the vote.

She will be Seattle’s first woman mayor in almost 100 years, and the first openly lesbian mayor.

Teresa Mosqueda beat Jon Grant with 60 percent of the vote for Seattle City Council Position 8.

Mitzi Johanknecht is the new King County Sheriff, beating incumbent John Urquhart with 55 percent of the vote.

Several incumbents won re-election, including Lorena González for City Council Position 9, Pete Holmes for City Attorney, and Dow Constantine for King County Executive.

Manka Dhingra picked up 55 percent of the vote for the 45th District state Senate race on the Eastside that has important implications for state politics. Washington state is now totally blue, with Democrats controlling the House, Senate and the Governor’s mansion. It joins Oregon and California in forming a “blue wall” of

Jenny Durkan, mayor-elect of Seattle, at an ethnic media event at the Nagomi Tea House in September • Photo by Chetanya Robinson

west coast states entirely controlled by Democrats.

Three seats were up for election for the seven-seat Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors. Eden Mack won District 4 with almost 86 percent of the vote over Herbert Camet Jr. Zachary DeWolf won District 5 over Omar Vasquez, with 61 percent of the vote. Incumbent Betty Patu beat Chelsea Byers with 64 percent of the vote.

Three Port of Seattle Commissioner seats were up for election. Ryan Calkins beat incumbent John Creighton with 51 percent of the vote. Incumbent Stephanie Bowman beat Ahmed Abdi with 62 percent of the vote. Incumbent Peter Steinbrueck beat Preeti Shridhar with 58 percent of the vote.

ARTS